The Sonic Revolution of 19th Century Copenhagen

This talk takes its cue from my ongoing work with a monography on the sonic and aural history of 19th century Copenhagen combining the mapping of urban noise and sonic experiences in the era with the contemporaneous notion of the 19th century as a particularly auscultative age. At one end the processes of industrialization and urbanization transformed the urban soundscape and led to new perceptions of the urban existence and the consequences of auditory overload. And at the other inventions of aurally based, new technologies like the stethoscope, telegraph and the phonograph engendered new listening practices and created “virtuoso listeners” in a variety of professions, and new urban interpretations and uses of sound and noise in political, aesthetic, and recreational arenas. The talk unfolds how part of this general process of aural and sonic change took place in Copenhagen.